Saturday, April 8, 2017

March Part II

Jared couldn't seem to get his hands in a normal position for this portrait by the pool. I said, "Do something normal, like putting your hands on your hips." This is what I got. I guess with me and Todd for parents, we can't expect any regular standard of normalcy.

All three kids advanced to the next level of swim lessons. The pink ribbon is for the class they completed, and the rainbow one is for the class they are starting. Jared is in the green class.

The next day, while Jared and Eloise were at piano lessons, I took B and Sammy to the police station to look at police cars. The police officer kindly gave us a full tour of the facility, making us very late to pick up the kids, but B and Sammy were in heaven. When we ask B what he is going to be when he grows up, he promptly replies that he will be "a police," and drive a race car. This may or may not have something to do with Officer Flynn, who lives across the street from us, and his mustang that he drives when he is off duty.

B told me that he wouldn't drive the police car because he isn't old enough. He kept his hands far from the steering wheel, just in case that would make it move.

Sammy had no such reservations. "I driving!" He announced.

B has been asking to go back ever since. He also wants to have a police car shaped birthday cake on his birthday. November is just around the corner in his mind.
We had a field trip to the Center for Wooden Boats in Seattle. We have been learning about Christopher Columbus, and early advances in navigation. It is great to have this throwback to old fashioned boat making at our disposal on Lake Union. The center is free, which is an added bonus.

The Center for Wooden Boats is all floating. It has areas for learning to tie knots, figure out the depth of the lake, and, best of all, we could put on life jackets and climb in and out of many of the boats.

We were there for story time aboard the historic tugboat Arthur Foss. After the stories, we got to wander around the boat and explore. This boat is part of the Northwest Maritime Museum.

Photo that includes me taken by Benjamin.

We had a really great time, and no one fell in the lake, which was a shock to me. We did have a couple of close calls, but bringing a leash for Sammy was a good idea.
A week after I got back from Utah, Todd had to take a trip to California for work. While he was gone, we went to a movie that he didn't want to see.

We also went out for dinner. When we were deciding what we wanted for dinner, B said, "Pasta and french fries." Who knew that such a thing could actually be ordered at the Olive Garden? Gross.

The kids got haircuts, including Eloise. We cut her hair to the length of her growing out bangs. It's a good look for her.

For history we attempted to make chocolate out of cocoa powder, since we were learning about the Aztecs. The Aztecs only ever drank chocolate, since bar chocolate wasn't invented until the mid 19th century, but we like our chocolate in bars. Eloise and Alice liked the bitter dark chocolate we made. None of the other kids cared for it.

Eloise loves to draw. She has been checking out library books about drawing animals, since animals are another big interest of hers. She happened upon a book about how to draw Disney characters, and broadened her horizons. I love Eloise's artwork.

We took a walk one day at the Kenmore pier, near the air harbor where the seaplanes anchor. We saw a couple of seaplanes taking off. Some of the kids were reluctant to get out in the sunshine, so I let them take turns taking pictures the whole time we were on the pier and in the park. Some of them even got faces in them.

Jared and Eloise's piano teacher, Sam, created a card game, and invited his students to come play the game on video in exchange for a free copy of the game. Jared loves games, so I took him over to participate. Jared's game ended abruptly, with much screaming, when all of the cards fell off the table. A video replay showed Jared as the culprit, accidentally nudging the table cloth just enough so that it slid off the table. It made for very dramatic video.

The months have flown by this year. I seems like we were just in Arizona celebrating the New Year, and all of a sudden we were getting ready for April, and one of our favorite events of the year: General Conference.